A long journey to back to the start; yet very different
- Details
- Category: The No Brakes Theory
- Created: Thursday, 07 June 2018 15:34
- Published: Thursday, 07 June 2018 15:34
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 2296
Hello,
So back in 2005 I released StrikeForce:2136 using the Rev A conflict system. After its release I learned, learned, and discovered of many of the things about my system that would quite simply be a barrier to many players picking it up and playing it. Some of these things were the art, the writing, the layout and the fact I did it in 3 books. However the many comments and play sessions with new players after the release showed me something was missing. I had player Rev A so much and not PLAYED enough new RPG's that I missed the change in what players were looking for in an RPG. This is a short discussion on what I found and how it changed the Conflict system into what it is today.
A short disclaimer, this is what I have seen as I played many other games. It is not scientific nor do i claim its the one and only truth. In fact many with find these musing silly or focusing on the wrong thing for what an RPG. You are right and wrong, these are the things i took away and used to create the Conflict System Rev X, as always YMMV.
So lets talk math and rpgs. The original first wave of RPGs using ADnD, Twilight 2000, and James Bond used different, sometimes larger numbers and detailed formula to figure success. A design goal for many of these games seemed to be how to let characters grow in a non linear manner to the roll of the dice. Advanced DnD had attributes base on 3d6 and then used THAC0 charts or percentages set or modified by GM fiat to determine success/failure. Twilight 2000 used formulae to generate a formula based on percentile skills/attributes. The James Bond RPG took a skill range from 1 - 30 and then used a challenge system from 1/4 to x 10; so a 20 skill could be a percentile chance from 5 to 200. Again the disconnect from the characters build and the resolution allows for growth in non linear directions, while still allowing for a faster resolution. Rifts tried to do a percentile skills system, linked to d20 combat. A narrative system using d100 skills then d20 combat to be faster. Then you have d6 systems like West End star wars which used a link between Attributes and skills but allowed for independent skill growth, using a resolution system of adding d6's and +1 -5, keeping. The thing about all these is the character build is indirect in many ways to the system or uses many parts of the characters in a formula that can change create many different chances for success and failure. The design I wanted was like these games, where growth and system do not limit each other. Like James Bond or Star Wars D6 these systems you could make a character with great depth and be a big damn hero.
Then the industry changed with 3.5 DnD, a game I did not play. The character build directly effected the resolution system. The Game had so many character build expansions, each directly changing the numbers and how many dice were rolled. The additional feats, prestige classes, bonuses from spells and other options created truly powerful characters, which the math reinforced. This was linear growth a , direct line to resolution. To succeed at a Challenge DND moved away from THAC0 and went to a Roll a D20 + Bonuses versus Armor Class; then roll dice to beat the Hit Points. These rules included scaled abilities, magic, and class abilities so growth in character matched with the opposition growth, the numbers and powers growing as the players did, the more you added to your characters the nigger the game and the numbers got. Other games like Shadowrun, MERP, and Twilight 2300 did similar stuff with bigger numbers and character growth that forced targets to grow with the character build. I believe that this growth in math, calculator games as I called them lead directly to the next big change in RPG's, Slow Growth.
